The Absoluteness of It All

When we were editing the DMCI Bulletin in the 80’s, our Christmas issue which really stood out was the one filled with musings about death. Which elicited countless unease as well as shrugs. For one thing, December reminded us of the passing away of Father, on December 24, 1970 to be exact. And how we quickly lost our innocence at that defining moment. All the while we had thought we were invincible.

Now that we’re a lot older than Father was when he died, death becomes a constant. More so with the depressing prognostications about 2012. Like. . . how so that the Hopi Indians, the Mayans, the Australian aborigines are all in accord about stopping the count at 2012. Then the messages from the numerous crop circles in Europe, as decoded, also point to December 2012 as very defining, i.e., the sun will turn into a red star, resulting in a new Ice Age for Earth, and that the gravitational pull of Jupiter will wreak havoc as well.

As it is, we humans only use 3 percent of our DNA, with the 97 percent inoperative. Many are postulating that this 97 percent belongs to the spiritual aspect of man, including one’s ancestors. Hence the belief among African Tribal Religions about one’s connections to his ancestors through the 97 percent, i.e. some of our ancestors are acting like guides for us. Which we also subscribe.

A lot of our friends and relatives have passed on, without any warning–sometimes we only knew about their passing many years after the fact. They say that death is a lot like going to another room, even as we view it as absolute.

We also had come face to face with death when Mother gave up the ghost in 1997. How we chanted our Buddhist mantra for so many hours, praying to shoo death away. While doing so, it dawned on us, that we should just as well pray for a peaceful death for her.

While we attended to her cold and stiff body at the morgue in Burauen, we also made it a point to chant the Buddhist mantra a thousand times more. You see, we have been all over when it comes to religion. But that is water under the bridge now, because we find being eclectic to be more apt and workable for us. We would like to define eclectism as a blend of several philosophies or beliefs.

With being eclectic, we have come to realize that we are just a step away from death’s door. And that with this truism, we also realize that man’s sole purpose is to help his fellowman, to lift him up in whatever way or form, without an expectation of a payback. Which reminds us of the proliferation of private foundations seeking to help out.